Wednesday, June 27, 2012

June 14th 5:45am I'm back at the airport in Austin winging my way out to Chicago and Detroit to assist and tour manage for the That Metal Show Comedy and Metal Roadshow starring Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson.

After a 2 hour flight and a 90 minute train ride and a cab from the hotel I find myself not only in the shadow of the confines of Wrigley Field but holding tickets to see the Tigers play the Cubs.

Our tickets were lower deck behind home plate, the weather was perfect and Jason Verlander from the Tigers was making the Cubs look foolish. He was busting dudes hands inside, his slider was nasty and even better it was like a Tigers home game. I'd have to say 65-70% of the fans were there for the Tigers. Now we know where all that money is going when they're not in Michigan defaulting on their mortgages.

The Tigers ended up winning and I spent the afternoon talking about baseball, KISS,

metal and eating peanuts.

After the game Bryan, a metal fan and Cubs representative showed up with 6 cubs shirts and hats and escorted us through the front office down onto the field.

Stepping onto the field was not only mind blowing but the Cubs were playing the Red Sox the next day and they were getting ready.

Don Eddie and Jim

Me when I was 17 and thin yet still too slow to make it.

So Awesome!

Visitors Dugout, Notice the dented fountain.

I was 3 days from my 41st birthday with a check mark next to not only seeing a game at Wrigley but getting on the field.

After the game we went back to the hotel and showered up.

We ended up staying and sat with Eddie who talked about KISS, Ace Frehley, and the early days at Megaforce Records. My inner metal nerd was satisfied, I dreamed of baseball, The Sox and good old Metallica! Tomorrow was the big show at The Cubby Bear.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

June is the beginning of the awful slow season for stand up. It's hot, people are on vacation, no one gives a shit and gas is expensive.

I was asked to be part of the CB Radio Podcast Comedy Tour featuring Cameron Buccholtz and BradChad Porter. It was a driving tour which would take us from ATX to San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Fayetteville AR. I can almost taste the truck stop coffee and fried food just thinking about it.

My hopes and dreams on the side of the road...

The setlist was all ready for this trip and we opened up at the ND in Austin. Small turn out but the people were great from the beginning, I was able to bust out my set and bail because I had 2 more shows that same day.

The following day was San Antonio, the original venue bailed on the gig and we were moved to another location.

One thing I know about these small tours is that foot traffic and walk ups make or break the shows and while the venue was nice it was located by nothing which didn't bode well for attendance.

Ramin Nazer came down and did a spot with us and I think by the time everything was said and done we performed in front of 20 people.

Definitely a far cry from the massive Stern numbers I'm used to but still a great opportunity to work on stuff and hone the skills needed for intimate environments.

Only in San Antonio can you be fat enough to be considered a car.

Houston was a bust out, no show basically 7 hours crammed in a car talking about nothing. Cameron fed his lotto addiction, I think he won gas money. I had BBQ that day at a truck stop.

After a day off we jumped in the car again and went off to Dallas. It was good to be home and see some old friends ; IE Paul Varghese, Jason James, Cris Lehman and Raj Sharma. Show was fun, good turn out. After the show we drove up to Oklahoma City. My Pandora was in rare form at one point ripping out Mercyful Fate, Styx, Metal Church, Keel and Y&T. I'm a metal nerd, suck it.

Oklahoma City was a weird show where these 5 people wouldnt move from the side of the stage so I made everyone in the front move over to them and did the show side ways. Fuck it, it was a punk club and fuck the rules. Did purchase some municipal waste gear and visited the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. 186 Victims and a chair places in memory of each.

Definite odd energy in the air and I'm normally not one to feel such things but there was a change inside of the memorial.

Tulsa sucked the high hard one, the venue was next door to a place the Sex Pistols had played and we found our way down to the center of the world (universe) I forget. It's some acoustic trick where you stand on a circle and something happens to your voice, I forgot, however I did finally work with Spencer Hicks @spencerlenox also on the bill was James Ngheim who probably has the best DMT joke I've ever heard.

See that door it's Hanson's studio so mmm bop my nizzies.

Monday in Fayetteville was dope and there was a poster for the White Stripes who played there on 9/11... Everytime those ass hats play it's 9/11 for someone.

Middle of the night that photo was taken during a lightning strike.

Coming up next in part 2 I join the That Metal Show Comedy Tour and we tackle Chicago and Detroit.

Monday, June 4, 2012

John Tole's America Episode 5 is now up and available!
featuring
Ronnie Mund, Shuli, Hanzi, Maddog Mattern.
We break down cannibalism, comedy, The Ronnie Mund Block Party in Toronto, a sweet interview with frequent Stern Caller Hanzi and some Testament to round out the podcast.